Laser Torch

The beam coming out of your laser diode is pretty small. Ever wanted to use your laser as a torch? It's easier than you might think!

This instructable shows how to use your laser as a torch without any permanent modifications to your laser.

What you need:
A laser - I'm using a cheap green laser pen
A concave lens - I'm using a lens that I took out of a 90 yen($1) pair of binoculars. You can use pretty much any camera lens or even the bottom of a glass bottle
Clay/Playdoh

What do do:
Wrap the clay/playdoh around the end of your laser (where the beam comes out) and use it to join the lens onto the laser pen.

Provided your lens is light, this will create a reasonably strong bond.

Now shine it at the wall and see that you have a nice wide torch beam.

I also tested with a small glass bottle and the result was the same. Although the bottle method requires you to support the weight of the bottle with your hand.